Hunt for Justice (7 page)

"Here," she said, grabbing the strap of his bag. "Let me take that. I can carry both bags."

"I'm fine," he snapped back at her.

"Just give me your bag, Nolan. If we have to run, you'll pass out before you even make it a few paces."

"Alright," she said after getting both of their bags adjusted on her shoulders. "Up Main Street, then over the bridge."

"Ezzy, they could be on Main Street, especially if they searched Fisher's Row and came up empty."

"I know what you are about to say and the answer is no."

"It will be safer if we cut across Main Street and head down Melcoi's Curve--"

"No, Nolan, I can't handle that."

"Would you rather risk getting caught, or worse, starting a fight and someone getting hurt?"

She responded to his question with silence. It was one thing to know he was right, another matter altogether to say it out loud.

It's fine. It's only a road after all.

If only she could believe her own thoughts.

"Let's go." She had tried to keep the quiver out of her voice and failed. Nolan looked like he was about to say something, but she spun and walked away before he could. If she was going to head down Melcoi's Curve, the last thing she needed was Nolan trying to comfort her.

Ezzy glanced back once to make sure Nolan was following her and then continued on at a fast pace. Best to get this over with and get out of town. She could handle a walk down memory lane. A very fast walk. A sprint, if Nolan could keep up.

Before she knew it, Ezzy was crossing over Main Street. The houses on Melcoi's Curve were grand displays of the owner's wealth, most of them belonging to the lower members of the Hawkpurse clans or merchants with connections to them. Cut stone and brick took the place of painted logs and planks. Slate and clay tiles covered the homes instead of thatch and wood. Grand windows adorned each floor, framed by ornate shutters and small flower boxes. Each home had extra space out front for a yard, although many were filled with flowers or vegetable gardens.

Nolan walked beside her, his attention straight ahead. Of all of the people in the world, Nolan best understood what her family had been through. He walked beside her in silence, offering neither his hand nor words of wisdom, but Ezzy didn't mind. His stoic presence alone had always given her a sense of comfort.

Melcoi's Curve got its name from the fact that it arced from east to north as it ran alongside the Melcoi River as it flowed south. The homes on the right side of the street backed up to the river, most having small beaches or decorated shores. As the two came to where the street curved, Ezzy stopped.

There, sitting on one of the largest plots of land in the city, were the burnt ruins of her family home.

CHAPTER EIGHT

A Moonlight Stroll

The charred remains of the home she had grown up in looked like a skeleton left to rot. Wooden beams stuck out of the ground like the fingers of a half-buried hand. The flower beds of what had been the most magnificent garden in the city - better even than the famed garden around Ni'Aren's temple - were now piles of ash. The metal fence, with its ornate designs, had been knocked over and reduced to twisted mounds of iron. Even the cobblestone path leading up to the house had been ripped apart. It had been close to a year since the loss of her father and destruction of her family's businesses. One of the Hawkpurse families owned the property now, but she didn't know which one. But the way they had left the home destroyed, it was obvious they were trying to send a message--the Ciantar family was dead and gone.

But Ezzy would show them that it took more than that to eliminate the oldest Hawkpurse family in the realm. As long as she had breath in her lungs, she'd make the enemies of her family pay.

Starting with Ean Sangrave.

"We should go," Nolan said, causing Ezzy to jump.

"Yes, yes," she said, brushing away an unwanted teardrop. "We should keep moving."

As they followed the road, she kept her eyes on the river to the right. She needed to focus. This wasn't some casual stroll at night. They had bounty hunters after them. After glancing at her destroyed home one more time, Ezzy was starting to feel that a fight wouldn't be a bad thing. Maybe running into one or two bounty hunters would be a good thing.

"Beating up a bunch of thugs will not help our situation," Nolan said.

Could the blasted man read minds? He certainly had touched hers enough in creating the bond to Paz.

"I don't want to fight anyone," she lied.

"That's not what your expression is saying. You have the same look that you get when you're about to teach one of your brothers a lesson."

Good, he couldn't read minds. She was just really transparent. She needed to work on that.

"Beating the stuffing out of a few dirty bounty hunters would make me feel a lot better."

Nolan let out a loud sigh. "We don't need the bounty increasing just to make you feel better."

"The bounty on me."

"Don't even try to play the victim. It's only a matter of time before I'm added on to that bounty or have one of my own."

"Yeah, yeah, alright. I'll calm down. Now stop making so much noise. Do you want the whole city to know where we are?"

Nolan shook with frustration, but kept silent.

They continued up the road, remaining quiet and scanning the streets for any sign of life. This time of night it was rare to see anyone out and about. All three moons hung high in the sky, bathing the streets in their green, blue, and red glow. Ezzy found her gaze wandering to the river as the different colors danced along the surface of the water. Funny how she had never noticed how beautiful it looked growing up, when she had lived only a few paces away. Now, while she was on the run, Ezzy felt a little sadness creeping in, thinking about how she couldn't sit and appreciate the swirling reflection of colors. Of course, the mammoth building sitting on the opposite shore made it hard to enjoy the sights.

The Endless Tombs towered over every building along the shoreline, including the building connected to its left side: the Temple of Kaz'ren. The temple by itself was an impressive marble structure, but the Tombs were the second largest creation in the world, second only to the Unyielding Wall. Created by Kaz'ren herself, the black stone building stretched high into the sky and was said to stretch even further deep underground. The bodies of every single person whose soul had been claimed by Kaz'ren was laid to rest in those tombs. Even those who died before the Plague.

Ezzy's father wasn't entombed there. His body was still lost in the Deadlands. Who knew what the freaks living up there had done with him. The Soulbearers didn't travel into those lands to release a person's spirit back to Kaz'ren. Her father's spirit was stuck there in his corpse, never to be freed to return to his family. It was just another log fueling the fire of her anger towards those that had brought her family down. But again, she couldn't dwell on that now. She needed to focus on the here and now and get out of the city.

The streets were still empty when they finally reached Melcoi Bridge. Built from bone-colored stones, the massive construction spanned the river where it flowed from Lake Melcoi. The bridge rose high into the air, leaving enough clearance for the largest river boats to pass underneath. The incline was so great that if you stood on one end, you couldn't see over the rise to the other side. Ezzy's father had said it had taken the hardiest Vilathos and the most skilled Elementalists to construct the bridge.

Ezzy and Nolan both took one last look around before stepping off the road and onto the bridge. Normally bustling with activity during the day, the bridge felt barren and ominous at night. The only sounds to be heard were water lapping against the stone supports. Old stories of creatures from the Abyss hiding under bridges to ensnare their prey leapt into her mind for a moment before she squashed them. She was too old to be scared by such tales. The gods protected the city from the Abyss anyway, so there was nothing to worry about. Even so, Ezzy found her gaze wandering back to the Temple of Kaz'ren as they moved across the bridge.

How long had it been since she had prayed to the goddess of the soul and afterlife? Probably just as long as it had been since she had given her last prayer to Drenks. Did the gods and goddesses even notice when a single person stopped paying their respects? The Voices, the title given to the highest priest in each of the temples, said the gods noticed, but Ezzy was skeptical of what even the Voices knew anymore. With everything that had happened to her family, it was hard to believe in anything that came from the temples. She would continue to pray to the goddess of the hunt though. Just in case.

A hand on her arm brought Ezzy out of her thoughts. They had already reached the peak of the bridge? She glanced over at Nolan, who in turn nodded ahead of them.

Standing on the east end of the bridge were four men. They were dressed in mismatched, multicolored clothing that made each man look unique in a ragtag sort of way. At first Ezzy thought they might just be beggars. In the low light of the moons it was difficult to make out much more detail from this distance.

The moons' light glinted off something metallic in each man's hand.

"Thieves?" she whispered.

"Could be. I can't imagine anyone else out at this time at night looking like that."

"What if they are bounty hunters?"

"I don't think it matters either way," Nolan said as he gestured towards the men. One of the four was pointing directly at them. A moment later, the men started crossing the bridge.

"What's the plan," Ezzy asked, moving closer to Nolan. "Fight or flight?"

He tapped his walking stick against the bridge a few times. "I don't think flight is ever much of an option for me."

"Well, maybe you can talk our way out of this then. These four don't look like the brightest flames in the fireplace, Nolan."

"Depends on if they are simple thieves or bounty hunters. Either way, if I'm talking, you need to keep quiet."

"Why?"

"'Cause your voice always seems to enrage these types of people."

"And what types of people would those be, Nolan?"

"The awake kind."

"No need to be rude. You could have just said I'm not the best ambassador."

"I thought I did."

"Yes, true, but..."

"Shhhh."

Ezzy's mouth snapped shut as the four men drew close. Where Ezzy had originally thought they were wearing mismatched pieces of clothing, they actually wore pieces of armor that were so worn out and falling apart that they gave the appearance of being separate pieces. The men themselves looked just as worn out as the protection they were wearing. Bruises and ugly scars covered bald heads and faces that held no sign of compassion. Even their blades were nicked and look dull, although they were clean enough to reflect the moon light.

"You two out for a nice romantic walk?" one of the men said to Nolan. He had a cross-shaped scar on his right cheek. "Good for you chap, snagging a younger woman."

"We are most certainly not--" Ezzy began, but cut off as Nolan cleared his throat.

"Yes, thank you." Nolan replied once Ezzy stopped speaking. "We thought we would take a quick stroll to the gardens of Ni'Aren. Find a nice secluded spot."

Nolan actually winked at the man. If those thugs didn't each have a blade in their hands, Ezzy would have kicked Nolan right in the shin.

"Well," cross-scar said with a chuckle, "we certainly don't want to keep you from your fun. We'll just be collecting the night toll for crossing the bridge, and you can be on your way."

"Night toll? Can't say I've heard of that before."

"Oh yeah? You must not have been in the city for a while. My friends and I have been collecting here for quite some time."

"And the money goes toward the maintenance of the bridge?"

"Yes, of course. It goes towards the import of new stone and applying mortar to weakening sections, as well as--ha, oh hell. This is getting boring. Clearly we aren't tax collectors, just like from the looks of the bags you are carrying you two are not off to rub against each other in the garden. So let's just get right to the point where you hand us enough money to make us happy so that we don't have to rough you up. We ain't the most refined of fighters, and if you resist you could end up dead and we will still take everything on you."

"A fair enough deal. We're not traveling with much more than clothes and a little food, but would five silver pieces for each of you be enough to let us pass?"

"Well, that's a little low, but luckily for you, a nice fat merchant had a bit too much to drink and wandered across the bridge earlier. I thought the fool man was going to wet himself when we grabbed him. He had quite the heavy purse, enough that we'll be able to eat well for a while. Your money can go towards our retirement funds and some nicer equipment."

"Now wait a minute," Ezzy growled, taking a step towards the men. "If you don't need our money, why--"

Nolan lifted his walking stick to block her path. She gave him her meanest stare, but the look he returned made her quiet down and step back.

"Yes," Nolan said, giving her one last meaningful look before returning his attention to the thieves. "If you are going to be toll collectors, you should look a bit more respectable."

That earned a laugh from cross-scar.

"True enough! Well, how about we finish our business transaction and we can all be on our way. It's getting late and I could sure go for--"

Cross-scar cut off what he was saying and raised his weapon. His three companions followed suit.

"Hold on a moment," Nolan said, raising his hands in a calming manner. "We agreed to pay you. No need to--"

"Shut up," Cross-scar said, then gestured past him towards the other side of the bridge.

Nolan and Ezzy swung their heads around. Walking up the other side of the bridge were four more men dressed much better than the four robbing them. Well-made leather armor covered most of their bodies, the Soushade family brand decorating each. From her training, Ezzy knew that meant it was the thicker and more expensive leather imported from the Shadaer Umdaer lands to the south. Similar to the thieves, each of these newcomers also had at least one weapon in hand. Ezzy's hopes rose as the four approached. They could be part of the town guard or even caravan guards for the Soushade family. Maybe she wouldn't have to give up any money tonight after all.

Nolan looked less than thrilled.

"Two of them are the bounty hunters I saw earlier," he said with a grimace.

Without pause, Ezzy sent a thought to Paz
.
Come, follow roa
d
was all she had to say, and through their bond, Paz would find her.